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Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Human Desolation Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band
since the recording of the new album?

Well, the whole musical aspect of the album was finished last
spring, and since then we've been working hard on getting all the other concepts
in place. These are things like artwork, website/various channel updates,
promotion, and pretty much going through our options on how we want to proceed
in getting the album out there. All this while frantically rehearsing and
developing our new elements. That said, we have started to gather a lot of new
material for the future already and also formulating and harmonizing our music
together with our live show

We did put together a pretty cool (physical) promo package that we
sent out to countless labels across the globe, but the competition is fierce
these days and it becomes terrifyingly evident that descent musical talent and
song writing skills are often much less important than “having a way in”, so to
speak. We won´t ever accept a bad deal limiting our freedom in the music making
so we decided to try and release it on our own. I won't bore you with the
details at this time, anyhow we instead decided to sign a distribution agreement
with Nordavind Records and Plastic Head Distribution, as well as a solid PR
campaign with Against PR.

2.You have a new album coming out in August and also released an EP
in March, how would you describe the musical sound of the newer material and
also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

Well, to start off we recorded a total of fifteen songs from which
twelve made it onto the final album. It's not that the other three were
unsatisfactory, but we just felt that they didn't quite fit on the same record.
The original plan was to release them as B-sides, but instead we came to the
conclusion to put them together with re-recordings of two older songs and
released the whole thing as an EP titled “Realm of Silence”. This really made it
possible to bridge the gap between Project Wasteland and the upcoming album
“Mind Grind Paradigm” – which, if you're observant, is noticeable in the cover
artwork.

Musically though, the new stuff is a a lot more mature; it's more
varied and daring but at the same time more gathered and better put together, as
a whole. We've always stayed true to our core idea that we should be free to do
whatever we want to do, rather than trying to sound a certain way. This is
something I feel we pretty much nailed this time. There are a million bands out
there, but only a handful of them have their own kind of character. While
certainly being somewhat biased, I think that with this album we may have
stepped into the realm of the latter. The lyrical concepts blends well into the
atmosphere of the music and builds up the feeling as the listener gets more
acquainted to the depth of our music. Hopefully?

One problem with today’s digital way of music exploration is the
fact that a track actually needs to be listened together with the whole album to
fully understand the music and get the attention it deserves. One could claim
that whilst music is easier to find, unfortunately this also leads to making the
listening more casual for many…

3.There was no new material being released for 5 years, can you
tell us a little bit more about what was going on during that time frame?

Well, there's a lot more to an entirely self-funded, self-made,
self-released record than meets the eye. That part we learned the hard way. We
started writing some of the material shortly after 'Project Wasteland', but in
that first year or so we did spend as much time as possible promoting, playing
gigs as well as the occasional festival, etc. After that we've pretty much lived
and breathed 'Mind Grind Paradigm' through its different stages, for almost four
years.

Don't get me wrong, it's mostly been a fun and extremely rewarding
experience, from which we've learned countless things we wouldn't have a clue
about if we'd have gone with one of the record deals we were offered after the
release of the above mentioned EP.

So all that hard work, plus we all have our daytime jobs, and some
of us have families to tend to... it takes time, you know. We've also ran
blindfolded into quite a few hard surfaced (time consuming) obstacles along the
way, which was bound to happen sooner or later, but more on that another
time.

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band
explores with the music?

The lyrics are formulated and evolve around extreme behavior
patterns and events set in different timeframes in a pre-described
post-apocalyptic realm. The lyrics can be interpreted differently depending on
the persons reading and exploring the music. Our goal is that the listener will
“see” the music through their own aspects of their life experiences as visualize
the “what if´s” beyond the borders of accepted individual thoughts patterns.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Human
Desolation'?

Well, frankly the band name was not easily conceived, thinking back
on the process still makes us laugh. Actually “Human Desolation” was more like
ripped out through a caesarean. Even though you can agree on the concept and
topic of a band’s music a single name can evidently be very difficult for
everyone to accept. We went through a number of alternatives until we landed on
Human Desolation. I guess it in the end resonated well with all of us, even
though its meaning probably is quite individual - which is a good thing. For me
personally it's about Mother Nature deserving a kind of peace that can only come
from a world where humanity has been desolated, which is also reflected in my
own interpretation of the lyrics. Hence our somewhat post-apocalyptic theme.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the
years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

Our goal is to always enjoy our gigs more after another; this is
unfortunately not bulletproof! Whilst the audience is having a large impact on
the whole performance but the energy and mindset of the band is outmost the
largest contributing factor. One proof for this being true is one gig at
Metaltown Festival where we played first the second day of the festival. Most
people had not arrived to the festival yet possibly suffering from the
withdrawals from the day before, BUT we were extremely dedicated to this gig
and. Anyhow we really managed to get the crowd with us and received massive
feedback even from HuDes virgins long after that show!

Our Performance is described as intense and weaving in the depth of
our music together with slower acoustical parts as well as from pre-recorded
background noise. When playing on larger stages the stage we want it to be
prepared with special lighting and special artifacts and signs, this is not
always possible though. We have a determined stage look formulating over our
fictional characters and binding ourselves to the spectators. We want to
portrait our alter egos and natural extremes on stage

7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is
released?

We have a couple of tour offers, nothing is decided yet though
since these plans has to work with our personal elements of planning. We have a
couple of gigs planned in Sweden, more updates on that TBA on our social media
channels!

8.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have
received any interest?

As mentioned earlier, we did get quite a few offers after the
release of “Project Wasteland” back in 2010, all of which we turned down as we
decided to do everything our own way without anyone interfering in our process.

But sure, the same goes for now as back then, if someone would hand
us a good deal we'd certainly consider it! However, our main goal is not to get
signed – it's to get our music out there, and hopefully make some of the money
back that we spent making it (which was a lot, haha). Mainly so we can afford to
do a bit of touring, and when time is due, make another record.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by
fans of melodic death metal?

I'd say very positive, it's actually flattering as hell! We're just
a bunch of peculiar dudes doing what we love and believe in, and the fact that
other people seem to love it too is downright overwhelming. Our fan base may
still be relatively small, but as with everything else I'd take quality over
quantity every time. Although, the album is not released yet so we're all really
excited to see what people have to say once it's out.

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the
future?

We believe that we still maturing and developing our mindset around
our endless noisemaking, which also goes for our musical skills and the meaning
of music. We can see that we are turning more progressive over the last years
and deep, we are not on purpose going in a more commercial or more “easy to”
listen style of music. The music we create is a much created for ourselves as
for our audience, we believe that if music is real for the artist it will also
become more attractive for the crowds which also eventually broadens the masses
for the HuDes experience.

11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an
influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

You know, I actually think that this – if anything – is what makes
us stand out a bit. We all have different sub-genres that we tent to lean
towards, and it all blends in somehow, in a way that feels right. Not that this
would be particularly unique in any way, but it does take some guts to just
throw something really out-of-place into a song and make it work. Like the
rather strange riff in the second half of “I Am Evil” for example, I have no
idea what we were thinking there but it turned out pretty cool.

To try to further answer your question though; obviously we all
listen to death metal, but personally I gladly listen to anything and everything
as long as it's musical, and preferably also a bit challenging. I enjoy
listening to everything from Fair to Midland to Dissection to Coheed and Cambria
to The Faceless to Clutch to... well, you get the idea.

12.What are some of your non musical interests?

We are very diverse on personal levels in this bands, we can be
described as an almost dysfunctional family that loves the differences we have
between us. In some aspects this enriches us but sure it can also be annoying at
times when no one wants to compromise. This also leads to that the members have
quite diverse interests such as biking, climbing, drinking, videogames, SM, mind
exploration and running to name a few and without telling which interest belongs
to whom.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or
thoughts?

Since the reader of this interview manages to follow us this far I
am quite sure they will check out our new album. We believe and certainly hope
that our hard work over this very long process will be genuinely appreciated and
remembered, for sure not by great masses, but from those who appreciate our own
style of music making!

It is interesting also that social media seems to bind the artists and audiences really close
nowadays. We indeed look forward to more interesting discussions and feedback in
the near future!